Small screens bring in big holiday sales

Mobile devices are responsible for $24.55 billion in sales so far this holiday season, according to the Adobe Digital Insights unit of Adobe Inc. This data accounts for sales during Nov. 1-Dec. 20, based on aggregated data from 23.4 billion visits to retail websites. Adobe defines the holiday season as November and December.

Smartphones make up 68% of the mobile spend at $16.63 billion, compared with their larger tablet counterparts making up 32% of mobile sales at $7.92 billion. And the biggest mobile days are yet to come, says Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst, Adobe Digital Insights.

“Mobile tends to get bigger again as soon as everyone takes off for the holiday,” Gaffney says. “Christmas Day is our projected largest mobile share day of the season.” She attributes this to consumers being at home on their smartphones and tablets, opposed to sitting on their desktops and laptops at work.

Overall, mobile devices account for 31% of online sales between Nov. 1-Dec. 20, with smartphones accounting for 21% and tablets 10%. Mobile’s share of total web sales for all of holiday 2015 was 28%. Mobile accounted for 19% in of holiday online commerce in 2014, Gaffney says. Mobile devices also accounted for 49% of web visits from Nov. 1 to Dec. 20– 40% from smartphones and 9% from tablets–according to Adobe.